Makalani keyrings

Last week at the Christuskirche in central Windhoek, I came across Erwin Eichab, one of the artists who make the perfect Namibian gift to take home - the makalani keyring.

 

Erwin buys the hard makalani fruits, also referred to as vegetable ivory, from people coming from the North where the makalani palm trees (Hyphaene petersiana) grow in abundance. He then sits outside the 1907 Lutheran church, originally known as the ‘Church of Peace’, removing the outer husk and carving images of animals - elephants, zebras, rhinos and giraffes - into the kernel. Erwin makes keyrings, fridge magnets, earrings, brooches and necklaces from the fruit. And has been doing so for the last twenty years.

He told me how the late co-founder of Save the Rhino Trust, Blythe Loutit, taught the craft to a few men from Khorixas, Erwin’s older brother being one of them. He, in turn, trained Erwin, providing him with the skills to make a living in the city.